I live over in Gilbert AZ, so I know how hot it gets over there You seem to have changed the big pieces in the cooling system, but have you checked to see if your condenser (right in front of the radiator) is clogged up with any crap? None of those pieces amount to a lot if whats in front of all of them is blocking a lot of the air flow. I have a 4.0 and in the same heat you have, my needle never goes above the middle line.

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1996 ZJ 4.0 Laredo... you know, the one with the ripped leather seats

My 95 V8 stays at the line before 210 weather its freeway or city driving here in Wisconsin. I don't use AC though. According to my coolant bottle the fluid is low but I just added some in a few weeks ago and I don't want to over fill it...brand new rad+hoses and no puddles.

without the AC on, it stays at about 180 both in town and on the highway.

with the AC on going down the highway, it will slowly creep up to about 210 and stay about there.

in town with the AC on, it will slowly creep up, and up, and up... i will shut the AC off when it gets a needle's width above the 3/4 mark... 225 i believe it is. so i'm shutting it off when it gets to about 230.

i'm pretty sure i need a new fan clutch.

i can rev it in neutral while at a stop light and i can't hear the fan at all. if i park somewhere after it gets hot, i can hear the fan engage at idle and i can feel it moving a lot of air through the grille, as soon as i rev it up a bit to about 1500 rpm, it seems to disengage and doesn't move near as much air while holding the revs at 1500.

the only time i hear the fan actually roar is on cold startup.

does this sound like a bad fan clutch? sorry if i'm hi-jacking OP's thread.

I just paid attention to this tonight when I started it from cold after thinking about the fan clutch and started to connect a few dots. I get that same 'roar' with my first acceleration on a cold engine. It sounds pretty rad. However, I noticed that after the engine is warm, I never hear it again. I've also heard this strange droning when I'm driving especially under power/up a hill, etc that I've not been able to isolate. My initial thought was its something in the drive train or front differential but now I'm thinking that same noise may be related to the fan clutch.

Are there any good threads on here for replacing one and is there any advantage to getting the heavy duty one vs. standard?